Bruins Drop 6-2 Game to Senators, ‘It’s Disappointing’

BOSTON –– The Boston Bruins fell 6-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday at TD Garden.​

“It’s disappointing. Just right from the start,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “They came out flying. They came out skating, had a lot of energy. They outworked us right away, right from the first puck drop. And then they finished us right away in the paint.”​

The Bruins got behind early in the first period after Drake Batherson snapped one in at 1:30 for the 1-0 lead. The Senators proceeded to widen the gap with a tally from Claude Giroux at 13:44 and a power-play goal from Fabian Zetterlund at 16:47, pushing it to 3-0.

David Pastrnak got Boston on the board in the final minute of the period while his team was on the man advantage. Pavel Zacha collected the puck down low and popped it up to Pastrnak by the right circle, where he lasered it past Ottawa netminder – and former Bruin – Linus Ullmark to make it 3-1 at 19:07.​

It was Pastrnak's 14th goal of the year – and seventh on the power play, which ties Morgan Geekie for the team-high. Zacha extended his point streak to four games with the assist. Charlie McAvoy also picked up the secondary helper, extending his point streak to three games.

Tim Stützle and Dylan Cozens scored in succession to open the middle frame, and put the Senators up 5-1 by the 7:03 mark. Jeremy Swayman then relieved Joonas Korpisalo in net.

“You never want to get pulled. Doesn’t matter what happens. Today was one of those days, and obviously I’m not happy [with] how I played,” Korpisalo said. “We’ve just got to get back to our identity. Battle hard, play together. Bring back the energy. I don’t know if we had it today.”

McAvoy earned his first goal of the season – and second point of the game – at 14:36. Marat Khusnutdinov swung the puck over to McAvoy on the right side, and the defenseman got it on net, where it trickled past Ullmark for the 5-2 scoreline. McAvoy now has four points in the last three games.

Zetterlund, though, potted his second power-play goal of the game for the final 6-2 standing at 17:26 ahead of the third period.

“I think we’ve had more breakdowns than normal. I think the things that allow us to have success, we’re not doing enough of right now. I don’t think you can ever question the group’s competitiveness and want to for each other,” McAvoy said. “Guys care in here, and that’s why this stretch, this hurts. It’s not fun to come into the locker room after a game like that.”

The Bruins will close out their homestand on Tuesday when they host the Montreal Canadiens ahead of the Christmas break.

“We need to win that game,” Nikita Zadorov said. “It’s really tight in the standings, but we know where we’re at. It’s nowhere near how we want to play as well, so we’ve got to show up [for] the big rivalry game.”